


Salt's Message

by erepall



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar, Sunless Skies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-07 13:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21459076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erepall/pseuds/erepall
Summary: The Carnelian Prophet has brought a message for the Sun's Daughter.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Salt's Message

The locomotive quietly docks next to the Shadow of the Sun. The Carnelian Prophet is first to disembark, naked save for her trademark black spectacles. The woman's skin is covered in tattoos and correspondence sigils, etched in virilian ink by Nobody's Rival. She is no Messenger, but she carries a Message. The crew tries not to stare - both because it is unseemly to gawk at a naked woman, and because it is dangerous to look to closely at the correspondence.

The Captain is second to disembark after saying goodbye to each of their officers. "Lead them well" they tell the Stalwart Navigator. The Navigator salutes, then hugs his friend.

The locomotive begins to pull away from the station. "It was enough to bring me here. You did not have to stay" the Prophet tells the Captain. The Captain laughs, a tired laugh that has seen too much of both the wonders and the horrors of the skies. "I made a promise that I would bare witness. I intend to keep that promise. Humans are peculiar about that sort of thing."

The Captain and the Prophet walk along the road that leads towards the palace. Yoked spirits flee from the path and press their heads to the ground. They dare not look. They dare not interfere with what has come. 

The Carefree Attendant, who is carefree no longer, stands alone in front of the palace door. "You cannot come here. You are not welcome. Begone, foul thing." It is a bold statement, but he does not entirely manage hide the fear from creeping into his voice. The Captain shrugs, and allows the Prophet to step forward.

"In Salt's name, I demand an audience." The Name has been invoked. It takes but a moment for the Sun's Daughter to direct her attention towards the palace gate, and one more to observe the Carnilian Prophet.

"THE ONE YOU CALL SALT IS LOST FOREVER" the Arbiter of Fate decrees. Her voice, if it can be called a voice, echoes through air and soul and skin. It is a terrible breach of protocol for her to communicate in this manner. The Attendant clutches his ears in horror. But the sequence is unalterable.

In response, The Carnelian Prophet begins to sing. It is a wordless song of green-and-gold-and-glory. A song of regret-and-relief-and-reckoning. A song of salt-and-sea-and-sky. One stanza. Two. Three.

"YOU BRING A FALSE PROPHESY. SALT IS GONE. THE TRAVELER SHALL NEVER RETURN" The Sun's Daugher is anxious-and-angry-and-afraid. Human voice cannot hope to capture the full meaning of the song, or the complex emotions of stars. But still the Prophet sings. Four stanzas. Five. Six.

"BE SILENT!" The Arbiter's screams. Her command echoes throughout the Blue Kingdom, to the halls of the House of Days, to the bottom of the White Well, to the very edge of Death's Door. For a fraction of a second, every single thing in the Blue Kingdom stops. Every creature, every ship, every shade, every heartbeat. All made silent. The moment passes, and the Carnelian Prophet has been reduced to atoms. The Captain, the Attendant, and several dozen nearby servants are dead, collateral damage to the Daughter's rage.

In the following weeks, the Blue Kingdom returns to normalcy. A new attendant is found to stand guard at the Arbiter's Palace, and no one speaks of the Prophet or the Captain. But in the Gardener Archivist's sanctuary, a new set of unflowers begins to bloom. They smell of the unterzee. And on each petal, a promise is written.

There will be a sunless sky.


End file.
